MUMBAI - The deal is all but done and dealers are already in. The anticipated US$100 billion worth of nuclear power infrastructure deals are buzzing across India Inc after India last week became the only country to be allowed to trade in nuclear material without signing the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Last weekend, the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) gave India a waiver allowing it to engage in nuclear commerce without signing either the NPT or the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, paving the way for the US Congress to ratify a potentially lucrative civilian nuclear deal with New Delhi.
Nuclear power plant infrastructure companies from the US, Russia, France and Britain are expected to fight for chunks of India's fat nuclear business pie. Investments worth more than $20 billion could now be made in infrastructure related to nuclear power plants, as India moves towards its goal of generating 40,000 megawatts of nuclear power by 2020.
That increase, from the present 3,500 megawatts, will raise the nuclear share of energy production in the fast-growing economy to between 5% and 7% of the country's total energy output from the present 3%.
The size of India's nuclear business potential, with US firms being promised preference, gives ample indication of the kind of American pressure that went into getting approval from reluctant countries such as Ireland and New Zealand in the 45-nation NSG. The waiver agreement follows strong lobbying by groups such as the Washington-based US-India Business Council vowing to secure congress ratification to "clear the way for US companies to participate in India's nuclear renaissance".
The Confederation of Indian Industry was also quick to indicate the expectations of Indian and US companies, with a statement released on September 8 entitled "Important role for industry to play in clean energy sector". The statement began with David Bohigian, the US assistant secretary of commerce, saying nearly $17 trillion would be invested in clean energy technologies by 2025, and that "India and the United States can be active partners in this drive towards sustainable and green industry".
India's communist parties (which withdrew parliamentary support to the government on July 9 after the government pressed ahead with the nuclear deal with the US) were left impotently screaming about India having surrendered its nuclear sovereignty, and suspicion gave way to satisfaction that it is now in a club of one: the only country that can trade in nuclear fuel material without signing the NPT.
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